Scottish followers had been adopted rapidly in Boston a lot in order that the US metropolis’s mayor signed a letter of intent final month to determine a sister metropolis partnership with Glasgow.
In Texas, I joined the Oranje March, as a sea of Netherlands followers which included many locals, sung and danced their method to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Throughout the border in Guadalajara, I witnessed the special bond between Mexico and South Korea fans, even forward of a giant match the place the 2 nations had been set to face off.
There is not any sugarcoating that this match had its fair proportion of ugliness on and off the pitch, and that adjustments will probably be wanted. As an illustration, the newly launched hydration breaks that FIFA has acknowledged to be unpopular and up for a post-tournament evaluation. Additionally, and I can’t emphasise this sufficient, that sports activities and politics should be saved aside.
However for a marvellous month, we spoke the language of soccer. And that greater than something is what I’ll keep in mind this match for.
Matthew Mohan is a correspondent at CNA. He specialises in sports activities reporting and has coated the Olympics, World Cup, Asian Video games and Southeast Asian Video games.
